Release Notes for 1.4

Smartsite iXperion 1.4 brings a number of new features, as well as a wide range of improvements to the CMS and the Application Platform.

Most of the changes have been driven by the need for a more modular and flexible site building approach. This can easily be seen by looking at some of the key features introduced in this release: additions to the Smartlet Framework, such as presets, explicit translation scoping / evaluationscope, a better Smartlet Editor, but also some very handy CMS additions that help in multi-channel situations, synchronous state updates from the CMS, enhancements of the TestSuite, and many other additions have been made to make working with Smartsite iXperion a better experience, especially when building large, complex sites or applications.

Speaking of which, let's introduce SmartInstant 2.0! This templating framework is ideal for a jumpstart into many of the Smartsite features. Many sites have already been built upon this foundation.

New features

New add-on module

SmartInstant 2.0 provides a tremendously easy way of building highly customizable sites featuring the 960 grid system, using an elegant and flexible interface, and it leverages all of the newly introduced building techniques.

An attribute was added to the friendlynames section for enforcing friendly urls.

Support for virtual directories

Smartsite iXperion now has full Virtual Directory support. Any Virtual Directory configured in IIS will automatically be mapped in the Smartsite iXperion file system handling, and the config editor Set Site Security takes them into account.

We recommend that translations are developed as independent functions and that the Preview Logic is used to generate examples and test cases for its use. To support this, we have introduced a new syntax to calls a smartlet form the Preview Logic field:{ formatexample('{ string.eval(translation.name()+"(arg1,arg2)")}','sxml') }

This syntax ensures that the corresponding translation is called from within the preview Logic, even if the translation is renamed or copied. Of course, this syntax should only be used within the Preview Logic field.

A similar syntax can be used to invoke smartlets from within the Preview Logic:{ formatexample('{ string.eval(smartlet.name()+"(arg1,arg2)")}','sxml') }

CMS Additions and Fixes

Active Channel synchronizationThe active channel now follows the selection. Selecting an item will set the active channel to the first browsable channel available for the item, if the current active channel can't be used.

Publication server now updated synchronously after activating a content itemThe CMS server will now call a WCF service on the PUB server synchronously when activating items, so the latency between saves and state refreshes in the PUB is removed.This is a tremendous improvement, because you will never see stale data on the publication server anymore (as long as the services are well configured).Note that because of this change, Outscaling will no longer process ContentChange.Activation events. As a result, the Outscaling EventQueue will be filled with less events and the Outscaling Background component will have less events to send. Therefore, it is recommended to set a higher Interval value on the Outscaling Background component within the registry (used to be 1 second, 5 seconds is a better value).

New 'Item Locks' action in Configure Security

New action: Log Off, to force clearing of IE credential cache

IE 9 support

Sql Native client database driver (SQLNCLI10.1) now supported

AIM improvements

In the process of developing the 1.4 release, we have made an extensive effort to lift AIM processing up to a new level. Nearly every aspect of the AIM system has been updated, resulting in much higher performance, and much better aim results. As you know, AIM is crucial for outscaling, state management and daily site building work.

Performance

Many Cache and State optimizations were made, especially in the communication

AIM performance is dramatically improved

Startup performance improved

Active Directory & LDAP Membership Providers performance improved

Transform macro now has a compile option for better performance

Better perfomance on (larger) CMS updates

Edit Item on Translation content items performs better

TestSuite Dependency List performance improved

Other Enhancements and Optimizations

Smarter refresh for aggregated includesAggregated includes, using the Scf Include Aggregator, are now added with a timestamp indicating the last modified date of all the includes aggregated. This ensures that a new version is built immediately after modifying any of the items used.

Due to a slight mismatch of database objects with a Smartsite iXperion 1.3 database, prior to running the database upgrade scripts, the script Pre-update-script_1.4_Build4.sql must be invoked. Otherwise, in some occasions, the upgrade scripts may result in several database error messages. This script can be found on the install dvd in the same folder as UpdatePublication_1.4_Build4.exe.